21strecords.com - Vinyl Records

The vinyl record (or record) was a way to record music (or other sounds) that was used during most of the twentieth century. Vinyl records are played on a phonograph ("record player"). A vinyl record is a disk made of vinyl plastic. The sound is recorded on a very fine line or groove which goes around and around in a spiral from the outside edge of the disk to the center. The phonograph plays the sound with a needle that touches the groove. A record usually has different music on each side. Thomas Edison made early phonographs in the 1870s. He originally used wax cylinders to record the sound, but vinyl disks were soon used instead. Singles usually carried only one or two songs or recordings. EPs (extended play records) carried from three to five. Albums carried many more recordings; a dozen was normal, or from 30 to 45 minutes of playing time. These formats are still used today, with digital recordings, and playing time for singles and albums has grown considerably. It is now rare for new music to be recorded on vinyl records, but it is still sometimes done.

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